O’Sheas

So by now you have no doubt heard that Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall and Saloon will close on February 4, 2013 to be extensively remodeled and reopen in 2014 under a new name. Caesars has not yet announced the name, but it’s a poorly kept secret that the property will be called Drai’s. As part of the renovation they will add a rooftop club and pool. But I’m guessing you knew all that. What’s more interesting is the implications.

First of all, it’s another sign of the new post-2008 Las Vegas that does not implode and build anew, but rather remodel and improve. We have seen it with Tropicana, Imperial Palace/Quad, and Now Bill’s/Drai’s. While it’s not quite as interesting as a new shiny property, it at least keeps the strip fresh and interesting.

But with fresh and interesting come a different customer. With Imperial Palace, O’Shea’s, and now Bill’s all being remodeled, I expect that table minimums will increase upon these new properties opening along with the new clubs and pools. More and more of the value in Las Vegas is downtown and the changes in demographics and table limits on the strip are only making that ever more apparent.

I do wonder if the remodel will include updating the rooms. We have heard that as part of The Quad remodel, Caesars will not immediately update the room offering. Having stayed at Imperial Palace a year ago, I can say that I won’t be staying at the Quad until they make some updates. Bill’s on the other hand already has a better room offering that Imperial Palace. So if they are not updating the Quad, i doubt they are updating Bill’s.

OK, so they are updating the rooms. This actually makes some sense when you compare the clientele of The Quad versus that of Drai’s. The target market for the Quad is a budget conscious person who likes dive bars and beer pong (e.g. 21-30s). This demographic is probably fine with a basic room as long as it’s clean and cheap. The Drai’s clientele is going to clubs and getting bottle service. They expect a much more contemporary room. With Drai’s positioning as a boutique hotel, they basically would be completely missing the mark if they didn’t update the rooms.

This news also puts the Flamingo Hotel in a rather precarious location, physically. It will be book ended by construction. On one side you have The Quad and Linq construction and on the other side you have Bill’s construction. This will vastly decrease pedestrian flow into the property. I also question how many people will be excited about staying at a property with so much construction happening around it.

At the end of the day, this is all part of Caesars’ plan to modernize the east side of the strip. While their original vision years back may have included imploding some of these places, at least the remodel will keep the properties seeming new and fresh. It will be interesting to see how they tie Drai’s into the Linq plans. For me this probably just makes me want to spend even more time downtown, but for today’s Vegas this news totally makes sense.

image credit: vegastripping.com

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One thing that has been missing from all of the Linq news was the name for the remodeled and re-skinned Imperial Palace. Caesars Entertainment announced that since they don’t own the name Imperial Palace, they would be renaming the property along with the remodel. But they have been surprisingly silent about that name. One would think that as they gut O’Sheas and prepare to combine it with Rockhouse and Imperial Palace there would need to be a name and brand in place.

I had heard rumors that they were going to settle on a name soon, and some over-the-weekend activity on the trademark websites seems to indicate that they have trademarked two options. The two names below were trademarked yesterday by Caesars License Company, LLC, the same company that trademarked the new Total Rewards logo well ahead of the announced rebrand.

The fact that they have trademarked two names makes the situation a little cloudy. These could be new name of Imperial Palace just as likely as they could be the name of a bar/restaurant or mini-casino (a la Margaritaville).

The 3535 name, however, feels like that could be the new name of Imperial Palace for one simple reason. Imperial Palace’s address is 3535 Las Vegas Blvd. And in this new world of names like LVH and The D (among plenty of others), I would not be surprised to see Caesars name the property after its address.

3535 would make for a pretty terrible property name. What does that say about the brand for your property? It says that this place is its address, nothing more. It feels like a very Caesars move to use a name like this. I suppose only time will tell if 3535 is it, but it certainly feels right.

UPDATE: According to the latest Five Hundy By Midnight, the name will most likely be The Quad. That’s better than 3535, but it’s nothing that gets me excited.

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Friend of NeonDice and recent hero@_lucky45 was walking the Las Vegas strip last weekend and was snapping some shots of the Linq construction. He was kind enough to share those with me and let me put them up. So without further adieu, below is what’s left of O’Sheas. The whole facade is completely gone and the inside is gutted to the concrete. I guess Caesars wasn’t kidding when they said they were stripping the building down to it’s skeleton.

He also got a few shots of Imperial Palace. The first two photos below are of what’s left of the Rockhouse space that was in the satellite building in front of Imperial Palace. The third photo is of the work they are doing in the old Porte Cochere that once seperated Rockhouse and Imperial Palace.

I’m curious to see how the build out of this will continue. Now that these areas are essentially gutted, I wonder what the next steps are to combine Imperial Palace, Rockhouse, and O’Sheas. It’ is easy to see how the buildings will fit together, but the process of doing so should be fun to watch. Hopefully sometime soon Caesars Entertainment will also release the name for the re-branded property to give us more of an idea what the finish product will look like. I’ll be out in Las Vegas next weekend, so I’m excited to see the progress with my own eyes. I’ll be sure to report back with any thoughts.

Once again, many thanks to @_Lucky45 for letting me share these pictures.

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Yesterday we said goodbye to the small budget-friendly casino O’Sheas. The casino is closing to make way for Linq. I’ve already posted pictures of other Linq construction, but closing O’Sheas is probably one the biggest (if not the biggest) moves that will be made to clear way for construction. That being said, what is next for the Linq project?

Caesars Entertainment has been remarkably tight lipped about the project since announcing it and releasing some super-cool looking renderings. They announced start dates for construction that were initially missed and they had no updates on the matter. Construction, however, did eventually start and now the major pieces are falling into place. Rockhouse closes in a matter of days allowing them to really start making some headway.

But what are they making headway for? Are they going to tear down the front part of Imperial Palace where Rockhouse is? I have even heard conflicting reports about the O’Sheas building itself. Will it be torn down? Will it be incorporated into the Imperial Palace structure? Will it be expanded? Will it be chopped? No one really knows and Caesars hasn’t said.

The parking garage behind O’Sheas was imploded this morning. That much is done. They are also clearing out the roads back behind the Flamingo. But all that being said, it would be really great to hear more details from Caesars about the project, what exact changes are going to happen to the properties, and what the name of Imperial Palace will be.

I hope for Linq’s success that they are just being tight-lipped. I’m not sure what the benefit would be of doing that, as it would only generate more publicity if they talked more about the project. What really concerns me is that the silence could be a lack of vision and foresight. Maybe they don’t really know some of these answers, and that’s why they aren’t saying anything at all.

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By now I’m sure you have heard that O’Sheas will close on April 30. Officially, this is happening to make way for further Linq development as Caesars Entertainment attempts to liven up their block of the Las Vegas strip. While additional shopping, food, and a ferris wheel aren’t enough to get my juices flowing, thinking about the implications of closing O’Sheas does.

Closing O’Sheas puts a further divide between the Las Vegas Strip and downtown. O’Sheas was one of a few limited places that offered no frills, low limit gaming, and cheap drinks. With the closing of O’Sheas and the rebranding of Imperial Palace, these types of places are further going by the wayside on the strip.

Downtown embraces this image. O’Sheas almost feels like a downtown transplant to the Las Vegas Strip. Casino Royale and Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall may be the only two places left where you can guarantee yourself a low limit table any night of the week. When you are downtown, you can go into almost any property any night and find low limits.

Caesars Entertainment has said they plan to open a new O’Sheas as part of Linq, but they haven’t said what that entails. Will it be a casino within the rebranded Imperial Palace (like Margaritaville in Flamingo)? Will it be its own free standing casino? Will it be a beer pong parlor? Will it even reopen? No one really knows.

I have found myself spending more and more time downtown because of its low key and low limit vibe. There are better odds downtown and it is more oriented toward people who are in Las Vegas to gamble. O’Sheas closing just increases that gap between the Strip and Downtown, a gap that might be the major reason behind downtown’s recent resurgence.